Hunters Capture Puerto Rico's Record 18 Foot Python

Wildlife hunters in Puerto Rico have captured an 18-foot-4-inch reticulated python, the longest live specimen recorded on the island, after the snake was spotted strangling a pet cat behind a house. Kevin Pavlidis, a Florida-based professional python hunter known as Snakeaholic, worked with local group Proyectos Retic to locate the animal and document its size.

According to reports published by Fox News and BroBible on October 19, 2026, the team found the snake after approximately 20 minutes of searching in jungle terrain. Eight people stood shoulder-to-shoulder to display its length, highlighting the scale of the capture. The reports did not establish whether the cat survived the encounter.

The capture marks a record for a live-caught reticulated python in Puerto Rico, where the non-native species has established a breeding population. Reticulated pythons are recognized as the world's longest snake species, although this specimen remains smaller than the longest measured individuals documented elsewhere.

Pavlidis described the effort required to track down the animal and explained why removing invasive predators matters to the island's wildlife.

"It took all my tracking skills and 20 minutes of searching to find this snake down in the jungle," Pavlidis wrote.

The snake had been chased down a mountain and away from the cat before the hunters located it. Pavlidis said the capture formed part of broader conservation work aimed at limiting the impact of non-native predators.

"Removing this invasive apex predator is one more step towards restoring the delicate balance of the ecosystem out here in Puerto Rico and I am proud to be a part of this incredible conservation work!" Pavlidis wrote.

In a separate post, Pavlidis emphasized the potential ecological consequences of the species' presence in Puerto Rico.

"As incredible as these snakes are, they are an unbelievably large threat to the delicate ecosystem of Puerto Rico," Pavlidis added.

He also distinguished the animal's ecological impact from responsibility for its introduction, arguing that human activity created the underlying problem.

"It's not the snake's fault, this is yet another human error of introducing a non-native animal and @proyectoreticpr and I are doing our best to fix the problem other people created."

BroBible reported that the record-setting python was measured after its capture and that Pavlidis shared video footage of the operation. The publication also contrasted the Puerto Rico specimen with a reticulated python known as The Baroness, or Ibuan, which measured 23 feet 8 inches (7.22 meters) and was captured in Indonesia earlier in 2026 after first being spotted late the previous year.

Claims of a 32-foot-8-inch reticulated python captured in 1912 remain unverified, according to BroBible. The 18-foot-4-inch specimen therefore sets a local capture record, rather than the global length record for the species.

Reticulated pythons are not the same species as Burmese pythons, which have also established invasive populations in Florida. BroBible reported that female reticulated pythons can lay between 20 and 100 eggs per clutch, with larger females typically producing 40 to 80, a reproductive capacity that can contribute to population growth.